The natural sense of hearing in human beings involves the use of hair cells in the cochlea that convert or transduce acoustic signals into auditory nerve impulses. Hearing loss, which may be due to many different causes, is generally of two types: conductive and sensorineural. Conductive hearing loss occurs when the normal mechanical pathways for sound to reach the hair cells in the cochlea are impeded. These sound pathways may be impeded, for example, by damage to the auditory ossicles. Conductive hearing loss may often be overcome through the use of conventional hearing aids that amplify sound so that acoustic signals can reach the hair cells within the cochlea. Some types of conductive hearing loss may also be treated by surgical procedures.
Sensorineural hearing loss, on the other hand, is caused by the absence or destruction of the hair cells in the cochlea, which are needed to transduce acoustic signals into auditory nerve impulses. People who suffer from sensorineural hearing loss may be unable to derive significant benefit from conventional hearing aid systems, no matter how loud the acoustic stimulus. This is because the mechanism for transducing sound energy into auditory nerve impulses has been damaged. Thus, in the absence of properly functioning hair cells, auditory nerve impulses cannot be generated directly from sounds.
To overcome sensorineural hearing loss, numerous cochlear implant systems—or cochlear prostheses—have been developed. Cochlear implant systems bypass the hair cells in the cochlea by presenting electrical stimulation directly to the auditory nerve fibers by way of one or more channels formed by an array of electrodes implanted in the cochlea. Direct stimulation of the auditory nerve fibers leads to the perception of sound in the brain and at least partial restoration of hearing function.
When a cochlear implant of a cochlear implant system is initially implanted in a patient, and during follow-up tests and checkups thereafter, it is usually necessary to “fit” the cochlear implant system to the patient. Fitting of a cochlear implant system to a patient is typically performed by an audiologist or the like who presents various stimuli to the patient and relies on subjective feedback from the patient as to how such stimuli are perceived. Adjustments may be made to specifically tailor the parameters of the cochlear implant system to the patient being fitted.
Fitting a cochlear implant system to a patient typically requires multiple pieces of fitting hardware. For example, a clinician's programming interface (“CPI”), its power supply, and various cables are typically required to communicatively couple a fitting station to a sound processor of a cochlear implant system in order to fit the cochlear implant system to a patient. If the patient is a bilateral cochlear implant patient (i.e., has a separate cochlear implant system for each ear), two sets of fitting hardware are typically required. However, some audiologists do not have multiple sets of fitting hardware at their disposal. These audiologists may use a single set of fitting hardware to fit multiple cochlear implants to a bilateral patient. However, currently used techniques to perform such bilateral fitting with a single set of fitting hardware are time-consuming, cumbersome, and difficult for both the audiologist and the patient because of the time required to switch the connection of the single set of fitting hardware from one sound processor to another during a fitting process.